E-Safety
At St Thomas Aquinas we are continually teaching our students about digital and online safety to help them become knowledgeable digital citizens. Each week we will be posting online safety tips to help parents and families build your knowledge and open discussion with your children at home.
Online spaces should be safe for everyone, but you may sometimes come across content that is distressing – especially if it shows extreme violence or acts of terrorism.
Inappropriate content may be an image, video or written words that can be upsetting, disturbing or offensive. Young people may encounter inappropriate content accidentally or deliberately. It is normal to be curious, but young people may be faced with concepts they are not ready for developmentally.
Inappropriate content may include:
- sexually explicit material
- false or misleading information
- violence
- extremism or terrorism
- hateful or offensive material.
The exposure of young people to inappropriate content is difficult to measure because many instances go unreported. A child may come across inappropriate content and not tell anyone due to embarrassment, confusion or fear. Given this, the percentage of young people encountering inappropriate or hateful content online could be higher than stated.
Prevent and manage exposure to inappropriate content
From Early Years to Year 2 students should build skills in:
- identifying online behaviours that make them feel safe and unsafe
- identifying and describing emotional responses people may experience in different online situations
- removing themselves from unsafe online situations if they come across inappropriate content
- describing strategies to help them search for safe, reliable information on safe search engines and websites.
Between Years 3 to 6, students should:
- develop an awareness of situations that might increase their exposure to inappropriate content online
- examine primary and secondary online sources to determine origin, purpose and reliability, and describe and apply strategies that can be used to reduce and manage exposure to harmful content
- question what they encounter online and begin to think critically about issues including body image, gender identity, racism, fake news and democracy
- investigate support services such as eSafety and Kids Helpline
- consider ways to setup their devices and apps to minimise accidental exposure to inappropriate content, for example, using screen time tools
Reporting to eSafety
Australian residents can make a complaint to eSafety about illegal and restricted online content. This includes child sexual abuse material and abhorrent violent material showing terrorist acts, murder, attempted murder, rape, kidnapping or torture.